‘An angel shouldn’t ... go that way’: Neighbors in Reseda horrified by killing of 3 young children

The slaying of three young children at a Reseda apartment complex Saturday left the neighborhood stunned by the violence and in mourning.

Elizabeth Cuevas, who lives in an apartment above the one where the crime took place, said she met one of the children, a “sweet little girl” who asked if she could pet her Chihuahua mix.

“She was a perfect little angel,” she said. “She was precious beyond what you could imagine.”

She said the girl was the middle child and that she believed the other two children were boys.

The crime doesn’t make any sense to her. She said the children appeared well loved.

“They were beautiful,” she said.

The little girl was soft-spoken but not overly shy or afraid, she said.

“An angel shouldn’t ... go that way,” Cuevas said.

A group of neighbors in Reseda watch police conduct their investigation. Some said they were shocked to hear about the slain children.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

The children’s grandmother returned from an overnight shift at work Saturday and found the children dead and their mother missing, police said.

Liliana Carrillo, the mother, was taken into custody in Tulare County after leading authorities on a long-distance chase in which she allegedly carjacked a pickup truck in Bakersfield, authorities said.

Cuevas said she never heard any yelling coming from the apartment, only the sounds of cartoons, which she said could be heard at all hours, sometimes as late as 10 p.m. She also never saw police respond to the unit before Saturday.

“Somebody snapped there, and they snapped in the wrong direction,” she said.

Cuevas said she can’t shake the memory of the polite little girl asking to pet her dog.

“I’m going to be processing this for quite some time,” she said.

Melody Yepez and her husband, Edward, both 64, who have lived in the building across the street for 10 years, said the slayings shocked them. The couple had gone to the bank Saturday afternoon and returned home to find the neighborhood flooded with police.

“We knew something was terribly wrong,” Edward Yepez said.

Resident Corina Huertas, 28, said she has lived across the street for two years and was also shocked to hear about the slayings.

“Who does that to innocent kids?” she said. “They didn’t ask to be born.”